Neurotransmitters as electrochemical signaling molecules are essential for proper brain function and their dysfunction is involved in several mental disorders. Therefore, the accurate detection and monitoring of these substances are crucial in brain studies. Neurotransmitters are present in the nervous system at very low concentrations, and they mixed with many other biochemical molecules and minerals, thus making their selective detection and measurement difficult. Although numerous techniques to do so have been proposed in the literature, neurotransmitter monitoring in the brain is still a challenge and the subject of ongoing research. This article reviews the current advances and trends in neurotransmitters detection techniques, including in vivo sampling and imaging techniques, electrochemical and nano-object sensing techniques for in vitro and in vivo detection, as well as spectrometric, analytical and derivatization-based methods mainly used for in vitro research. The document analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of each method, with the aim to offer selection guidelines for neuro-engineering research.
The rapid electrochemical identification and quantification of neurotransmitters being a challenge in the ever-growing field of neuroelectronics, we aimed to facilitate the electrochemical selective detection of dopamine by functionalizing commercially available electrodes through the deposition of a thin film containing pre-formed gold nanoparticles. The influence of different parameters and experimental conditions, such as buffer solution, fiber material, concentration, and cyclic voltammetry (CV) cycle number, were tested during neurotransmitter detection. In each case, without drastically changing the outcome of the functionalization process, the selectivity towards dopamine was improved. The detected oxidation current for dopamine was increased by 92%, while ascorbic acid and serotonin oxidation currents were lowered by 66% under the best conditions. Moreover, dopamine sensing was successfully achieved in tandem with home-made triple electrodes and an in-house built potentiostat at a high scan rate mode.
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